2007 Memorial Preview
By Dave Seaman, Columbus Wired

The 2007 Memorial Tournament kicks off Thursday with the best golfers in the world playing at the Muirfield Village Golf Course.

The field features the likes of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh and Sergio Garcia, all who are in the Top 15 of the FedEx Cup standings. The tournament always serves as a final tune-up to the U.S. Open, this year being played at Oakmont in two weeks.

The buzz around the Muirfield is the potential final-round match-up between Woods and Mickelson, the top two players in the standings.

Woods has played in seven tournaments this year, winning three and taking a pair of second-place finishes. He’s earned $4,181,091 this season. Woods eagled No. 18 during Wednesday’s Pro-Am with a seven-iron that went the “right distance.”

Mickelson has two first and two third place finishes this season with one runner-up performance. He has earned $4,120.588 in Tour events this year.

The two are playing at Muirfield together for the first time since 2002, where Mickelson took ninth and Woods finished in 22nd.

“(Phil) is playing better, no doubt about it,” Woods said. “He’s playing a little more consistent. This year, he’s putting a little better, too. We all know he can hit great all the time, but you have to make putts. If you do both, you’re looking good.”

Woods said that in his career he has had different players make runs at him including Singh, Els and Retief Goosen. He likes being mentioned in that group of elite golfers.

“As long as I’m up there in that conversation and I’m always apart of each one of those conversations, I’m doing all right.”

Woods has taken the last few tournaments off to get healthy, make appearances for his sponsors and try to get stronger in the gym.

Mickelson has also taken the last few weeks off to concentrate on working on his game and joining Cincinnati Reds pitcher Bronson Arroyo in kicking off a charity event for wounded soldiers. Arroyo is donating money for every strikeout he records this season.

He, like Woods, is ready to tee it off at Muirfield.

“I’m excited to be here,” he said. “The golf course is in impeccable shape. The greens are fast and they are going to be similar to what we see in two weeks, so it’s great preparation for lag putting and chipping, trying to get the ball close on this golf course. It’s difficult.”

After Mickelson’s win in the Players Championship, the golf community thinks that he can compete with Woods for the FedEx Cup Championship.

“It’s a tough feat (challenging Woods),” Mickelson said. “We’re talking about the best player of all time. I’m working hard. I think it’s going to take some time for me to get ultimately where I want to be as far as where I want my swing to be and as far as where I want my ball-striking to be and my misses. But, I’m certainly optimistic with the early success I’ve had.”

Woods is making his first appearance at Muirfield in two years after sitting out last year’s tournament because of the death of his father. He noticed immediately the changes that Jack Nicklaus has made to the course, both last year and this.

“A lot of new tees, some new green changes and bunkers are very different,” he said. “You can still spin the ball now with the way they’ve raked it this year. Last year I saw all the guys and nobody was actually stopping the ball.”

As for the opening round, Mickelson tees off at 8:13 a.m. with J.B. Holmes and Ryan Palmer. Woods begins play at 12:37 p.m. with Charley Hoffman and Bart Bryant, the 2005 Memorial winner.